CROMWELL. (From our own Correspondent.)

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 95, 4 December 1869, Page 3

CROMWELL. (From our own Correspondent.)

Quartz reefs and likely-looking ,'l-um sti'l continues to he an order of tNe day. Indeed, lam firmly persund \'l t'ia f t'^re i« not a man, woman,

: |„' 8 > • itir l ,i. .lOU put ?" m> ' feu."!. vis hand 3 sunieient u> steady the most wayward craft that ever entered out coastwise in ballast, CH> where you

will and you will see the dull slatecoloured rock cropping out from some repository or another. Public house bars and private house parlours are alike liberally supplied with the muchcoveted specimens. Now, the meaning of all this is a question which very naturally suggests itself. It simply means that quartz reefing in Otago is in a fair way of becoming an established fact, and I feel assured that you will join with me in saying that that is a consummation devoutly to be wished for. Ever since the startling discovery of 3rd November was made known, the town and district have been thronged with strangers, the majority bent upon doing a stroke in connection with that discovery. That three distinct leaders have been discovered, running parallel along the side of the range skirting Bendigo Grully, there cannot be the shadow of a doubt, but this is all the length we can get at present. "Whether these are or are not properly defined reefs is a question which remains to be decided. Much has already transpired to corroborate either side of the question. Groodger's, or, as it is now I named' Logan's, reef, the highest on the range, bas been opened up at different points, and to all appearance it is a reef, and a very good reef too. The crushings from it show a progressive tendency, the yield varying from two and a half to five ounces to the ton. Whether it is a reef or simply a leader, it is paying very well, and additional machinery is about to be erected. Further down the range is the Aurora Claim, and although not quite so strong, evidences of a properly defined reef are not wanting. For crushing the Aurora stone, machinery is in course of erection, which will be completed about the New Tear, and in the meantime a good deal of speculation is current regarding the probable yield. Should it turn out all right, it will do much to establish public confidence in tne district. Still further ! down the range we have Colclough's claim, but whether this is a reef or merely a " shoot " on the surface of the leader, it would at present be difficult to determine. The latest accounts from it are that three or four shafts have been put down other parts of the claim, and that in each of these the reef has been got at depths varying from six to eight feet. In one of these stone even richer than the prospect was found, but in some of the others it was poor, although payable. Such is the evidence forthcoming in support of well-defined reefs. In approaching the opposite view of the question, we are met at the very outset by the fact that the lay of these reefs is altogether opposed to the theory of a properly-defined reef. | They run east and west ; now, the orthodox lay is north and south. Such is the case in Victoria, and although Californian experience is said to coni firm the bearings in Otago, that fact don't appear to be properly understood by our miners. The consequence is a very strong opinion prevails that what at Bendigo Grully is called reefs, will turn out to be nothing more than leaders, and that they will be found to cut each other out until they merge into one solid well-defined lode running north and south. Be that as it may, their discovery has excited an interest which may yet prove to be of vast importance to the future of Otago. Locally speaking, the town is in a rich mess. Civic affairs have come to be a perfect bye word and a reproach to local self-government. The question of who really is the municipal head of the place remains to be decided, and with that object in view, Supreme Court writs are in course of being issued. Meantime the government subsidy has been put under embargo, so that if we have any need to refer to the Cromwell Cogs&cil, you will be justified in treating it as a flame without light, or a fire without heat. If you have got a side-heading in your columns for distinguished visitors, you can just cram in the names of James Macandrew, Esq., Superintendent, and Messrs. G-eorge Duncan and John Hughes. The trio were up here a short time ago, and after looking at the reefs, they went back to town. It is hard to say whether Jamie's visit was prompted by a personal or a political motive. As a conservator of commercial morality, Mr. "Warden Pyke has been distinguishing himself. A disposition was evinced to do a little sharebroking, which Mr. Pyke promptly prohibited under a very serious penalty. Mr. Pyke now finds that his good intentions have been frustrated ,- and acting, it is said, under the advice of the Grovernment, he has relaxed his edict. The step was an inconsiderate one, but I am persuaded Mi\ Pyke took it with good intentions.